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Safari themed forest wedding: Laura + Parker

Buenos dias, everyone! We have a super cute, safari-themed wedding to share today from Sara of onelove photography. It was sweet, heartfelt, and a real family effort, with lots of craft and budget friendly ideas.

Now, to start… a little explanation about the theme, from the bride herself:

“Because we were going to such a great and exotic place for our honeymoon–I wanted to incorporate it into our wedding. My sister Jessica got a gift for Christmas this past year-a book called “I Married Adventure.” It was all about the travels of Martin and Osa Johnson in Africa. The book was a design piece as well-styled with a great cloth, zebra print cover. So the title, the vintage look (published in the 1940s), and the African theme was perfect to use as inspiration for our wedding.”

Perfect!

Laura’s dress was made by Parker’s aunt Terry. Laura found the dress of her dreams but there were two problems. 1) it was way over her budget and 2) it was sold out. In swooped Aunt Terry and with some gentle convincing, Laura agreed to have her make her dress. And as Laura says, it came together beautifully, “with the last touch being added the day of the wedding (the bow)! It was beautiful and will be something I will cherish forever! So much love, sweat, tears, and blood (from all the pinpricks) went into making the dress, but it was all worth it (for me at least…and I hope for everyone else as well).”

Aren’t the vintage floral lapel pins genius??!! Such a simple, easy way to make your own boutonnieres! And the bridesmaids have matching hair clips. Very cute.

Laura’s close friend and roommate, Hana, wrote a song that she sang as Laura walked down the aisle. It was a super special part of the ceremony for the couple. While not everyone has a songwriter close to them, allowing family and friends who do have special talent to participate in your ceremony can only make your wedding more meaningful to you!

The Berkeley Botanical gardens are so pretty, aren’t they? And they probably aren’t terribly expensive to reserve them for your wedding. Public spaces are such a good, budget-friendly idea.

Laura and Parker both love pie and don’t love cake, so it was a no-brainer that they’d serve pie for their wedding. But cutting dessert is expensive, and on top of that, pie is hard to cut. So Laura did her share of research and found that baking pies in tiny mason jars is a perfect way to bake ahead of time and freeze. Which meant she could make the pies herself and save a bunch on dessert. Her mason jars were $.60 each, which is way less than a cake cutting fee, even if you bring your own cake. Plus, bonus points for cuteness!

Laura collected the tins and glasses she used for the tables. For those of you curious about how much a project/collection like this would cost, Laura told us the glasses ranged from $.50 – $6.00/each and the tins (which were much harder to find but luckily she needed less) were between $2.00-$12.00 each. And she found all of them at antique stores, flea markets, on ebay and etsy. Garage sales would be a good place to look too!

Her burlap tablecloths really helped set the mood. She bought burlap in bulk for $150/roll from an agricultural store. (Great idea! Burlap at fabric stores is much more expensive, FYI.) Laura figured this was comparable to what she would have paid for rental linens and so worth it in terms of decor.

“One of the most special moments of the wedding was seeing the lights that my new hubby strung with some of his groomsmen the night before the wedding. I really wanted glass globe lights for the courtyard–but using a lighting company was way over my budget. I searched high and low online to find some that I could afford–and finally found some for $11 per string at Kmart. Parker (an engineer) designed and built the structure they were strung from. It was perfect! I felt so special knowing that he stayed up late and put so much thought and effort into something just because of how important it was to me!!”

Another budget tip… Laura and Parker were lucky to have a friend who is a director and filmmaker shoot their wedding. But those out there with a budget that doesn’t allow for videography, Laura suggested, having a friend shoot amateur video and then use editing software (like iMovie) to do the edits yourself. It might not be super awesome Super 8, but it will be special anyway!

Finally, Laura wanted to share that if she can DIY, anyone can! She was taking a class that ended three days before the wedding, that had her commuting 2 days a week, 2 hours each way (ACK!). Which meant that some projects weren’t finished until the very last minute. But they were all totally worth it in the end!

Yay! The whole day was so thoughtful! Thanks so much for sending it over, Sara. And big congrats to Laura and Parker. Hope South Africa was amazing!

I'm with the previous two posters: I need that cardigan! I have been dreaming about something like that for months now, but can't find anything anywhere.

Benita Wheeler on Apr 11, 2011

I love the sprit of this wedding. They had a moment. It is very inspirational.

elaina on Apr 11, 2011

Laura, your shoes from Etsy are gorgeous! What seller did you buy those from!

Laura on Apr 11, 2011

Believe it or not...the sequined bolero is from Victoria's Secret! It's in their online shop.

Laura on Apr 11, 2011

The shoes are from the shop MomoDeluxe... For shoes and cardigans or other accessories, another great place to search is Shopstyle.com. You can search for "teal pumps" or "sequin cardigan," and they search tons of shops and give you all the results in one place...it's really great!

So happy for Parker and Laura's beautiful wedding! It was all-hands-on-deck before AND days after and her family and friends truly made this beauty happen. I was nearly crying during their vows, so much love!!

aw man! i was looking for the sequin cardigan for my wedding because i love it, but i can't find it online at victoria's secret...guess they are all sold out. let me know if you are willing to sell yours! send me an email at tifflemen@gmail.com. thanks!

Congrats Laura and Parker!!!
Your wedding day was absolutely beautiful :)
So much time, hard work, and love into all these projects.
It was such a perfect day, drizzling rain and all... now on to the next project! The house! :)

caroline on Apr 11, 2011

hi laura! i'm getting hitched at the garden soon too. wanted to ask how you "walked down the aisle"-did you do the stairs? where did you "hide out" beforehand? such a beautiful wedding!! i'm so re-inspired after seeing your photos! truly magic + charm :)

I'm with Lucy...HER HAIR IS AMAZING! She's such a pretty bride! Also, I LOVE the pins in place of traditional boutonnieres - and I love that they coordinated with the bridesmaids' hair accessories. Perfection! Very creative and fun!

jennifer on Apr 12, 2011

i LOVE the hair omg im dying over it! i need those pins for my hair that your bridesmaids wore! i need to get the patience to look through antique stores more i get so discourage but you found so many beautiful things! gorgeous!

Laura on Apr 12, 2011

Hi Caroline, I did use the stairs as the "aisle." I hid out outside of the ceremony site before hand since there was really no place to hide there. We waited until almost all the guests were there and the groom, groomsmen, and minister had taken there places, and then we walked down a path that was sort of hidden...my bridesmaids and dad hid me from site while we walked up the stairs...I hid behind my dad until I walked down the stairs...it wasn't perfectly hidden, but it was the best we could do :) I just told Parker not to look at me until I was walking down.

KansasKate on Apr 12, 2011

For their second honeymoon, maybe they'll visit the Martin & Osa Johnson Museum in Chanute, Kansas -- a little over an hour SW of Kansas City.

LOVE the rain boots! What a cute idea!
Quick shout out to the site and blog creators...This is not the most easy to navigate site, but it has improved since I first found you guys. I refer a lot of soon to be brides to your site and feel they can't always find what they want so quick and easy.
More clear and concise heading and categories would help. For instance THE REAL WEDDINGS section is one of your clever features but it's a little hidden, especially from someone who is just hitting the site for the first time.
I know your site and even for me I have to dig around to find it. So for someone brand new to the site, they might just miss it.
I see a category too with a little tiny thumbnail image...that was title "what is coming Friday" or something of that nature...to your viewers they don't know what that means unless they are regular viewers, and then MAYBE they have figured out that you post a particular feature each Friday..or one Friday each month......was it an old post or did it post yesterday Friday or is it coming next Friday...."sneak peak" is also vague...because if I am not a regular...I don't know what to expect.
Give these categories more descriptive hard to miss names...that will make sense to any new prospects visiting your site. ...so your viewers can get the full benefit of seeing your awesome features, understand your frequency/rhythm of posting and know how to find them easily again once they leave the site and come back.
I LOVE this site, but tell me what you are doing and where you want to lead me once I am here and make it clear and concise so I am not as lost.
If you have any questions or want feedback feel free to contact me at the email I gave above. I want to see you guys rock it out fully with this website and as a regular viewer i want to be able to find what I came for without having to hunt around so much to finally find it.
With love and respect, one of your favorite fans and advocates.
~Freea

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